Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 Recap - PR Mania+Blogger Friends+Nuun!

I'm pretty sure the unofficial blogger handbook says you MUST do a yearly recap and since I follow all the rules ;) I will do one!

But seriously, I was thinking back on 2012 and couldn't believe all the awesome things I got to do as a result of this tiny little piece of internet real estate I take up as marathonlar. I honestly just started this blog to documented my training for my first marathon and had NO idea what an awesome community I was joining. Countless "blog" friends have turned into real life friends and many of my favorite memories of 2012 come from these ladies.

I actually made some 2012 goals and posted them here for all to see and try to hold me somewhat accountable...let's discuss how I did:

1. NO fast food - Okay, I didn't follow this 100% all year but I can count on ONE hand how many times I rolled up to the McDonald's drive through to get a McFlurry or some french fries and that is a good enough success for me.

2. NO bread of pasta products - Oopsie, that didn't last either but I still try not to buy this stuff to have in the house. I've found a good balance with my love for carbs :).

3. Run a sub 2-hour half - DID IT!! I clocked in at 1:56:31 at the 2012 Mercer Island Half Marathon. This was HUGE accomplishment for me, especially since my first half was over 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Could I look any happier?!

4. Do a pullup - DARNIT, I still can't do one unassisted. I have really focused on strength training for the entire year and I'm pretty certain my faster run times are a direct result of that.

5. Get more involved with Girls on the Run - BIG CHECK! I am on the 5K committee and was in charge of setting up the course for the Spring and Fall 5K's. I love this organization and the ladies I work with involved in it. I plan on continuing my participation with Girls on the Run for a long long time!

Most of the 5K committee classing it up at the races

And since I had 5 goals for 2012 let's keep that pattern going and talk about amazing things I did this year that were all thanks to this blog and the friendships I've formed from it:

1. Mt. Si Relay with Kerrie, Zoe, Lindsay and Nicole - This was the first sort of "event" I did with local bloggers and we had the best day ever driving around in a van chasing after our runner, laughing, getting to know each other and having a generally awesome time. Part 1 and part 2 recaps!

2. Rock and Roll Half Marathon - Oh man, blog lady overload at this event! At this point I had been chosen for the Nuun Ragnar team so I got to meet many of my teammates and went to THREE meetups to meet even more ladies. You can see all the ladies that were there on my recap page. While this race itself wasn't very memorable (stomach issues...ugh!) I loved seeing all my friends along the course.

3. Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage with NUUN! - After my depression over not getting picked for the Nuun Hood to Coast team ;) wore off I received an email asking to run the Ragnar relay with them. I was honestly more excited about this than Hood to Coast since Ragnar is my first relay love and I couldn't wait to share it with Nuun. Running Ragnar with Nuun ignited a love for Nuun as a product and a company and as a result I have become friends with many of the employees and actually work for them myself at events.

I could go on and on about how much fun this relay was but you can just go read for yourself in three parts (part 1, part 2, part 3)! Every member of Nuun Kids on the Block will remain a friend for life.

And the best news of 2012? Evidently Nuun didn't find me extremely annoying during Ragnar and wants me to continue to be their best friend ever...I was chosen as a 2013 Nuun Ambassador! I was pretty much pretending I was one already, so I'm glad they finally recognized it ;).

4. Discovering Flywheel with my flygirls - I really have no idea how we first came up with the idea of trying Flywheel but think Twitter was involved. I look forward to my occasional Flywheel dates with flygirls - Sarah, Rebecca, Stacie, and more recently Megan! Of course our tradition of hitting up the Veggie Grill after doesn't suck either!

5. Setting new personal records in the 10K and 5K distances - Pretty sure I wouldn't have run either of these races without the encouragement from some bloggers, but I am glad I did! After achieving my sub 2-hour half I knew I had some new speed in me so I tested that first at the Lake Union 10K where I came away with a new 10K PR of 53:45. Next, enter the Mustache Dash where I was just planning on having a fun time running with friends that turned into a new 5K PR of 26:52.

#nuunkotb reunion at the Lake Union 10K

Whoa, what a year!! What will 2013 bring? I have some new goals swimming around in my head and I'll share them with you all in the new year.

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"Like the marathon, life can sometimes be difficult, challenging and present obstacles, however if you believe in your dreams and never ever give up, things will turn out for the best." – Meb Keflezighi